MARCH’ 20 ISSUE #4 Streaming, the new frontier in gaming High-end games distributed free of charge, games made for mobile phones, and countless hours of live streaming. It's a new gaming era, and Brazil's market still has a lot of room to growth EDITORIAL Latin Americans are crazy about gaming LABS is a business news website about Latin America, focused on economics, business, technology and society. By providing deep In the 1990s, "playing video games" was a and accurate content about the much more defined and restricted activity: economic and technological landscape of Latin America, both it was enough to have a console, buy or rent I in Portuguese and English, we help tapes and play alone or with friends in the same readers understand the region’s room. Today, there are more ways to have fun particularities. and from them there are countless ways to make money. In 2019, according to the game expert consul- MASTHEAD tancy company Newzoom, this market registered Thiago Romariz $148.8 billion in revenues, more than the movie Head of PR and Content at LABS [email protected] and music industry combined, and it should con- tinue to grow according to projections. Fabiane Ziolla Menezes High-end games distributed free of charge, Editor-in-Chief of LABS games for mobile phones, countless hours of live [email protected] streaming of the moment’s hottest titles, and João Paulo Pimentel esports, competitions seen by millions of view- Editor at LABS ers and which distribute millionaire prizes, are [email protected] taking the gaming industry to another level. In Anna Lima Brazil, particularly, there is still a lot of room for Content Analyst at LABS growth. Discover how in the next pages! [email protected] LABS TEAM Translation by Jennifer Ann Koppe Project Design Lead by Leticia Mulinari Cover Illustration by Felipe Mayerle Powered by 2 "All brands should focus on 04 streaming" IN AN INTERVIEW WITH LABS THE BRAZILIAN STREAMER AND PLAYER PATIFE TALKS ABOUT THE MAJOR CHANGES IN THE GAMING ECOSYSTEM People don't play like they 08 used to: welcome to the new billion-dollar game era HOW FREE GAMES AND STREAMING SERVICES SPARKED A NEW VIDEO GAME BOOM 13 The gaming industry today AND ITS POTENTIAL IN BRAZIL 14 The Free Fire phenomenon HOW BRAZIL BECAME A KEY MARKET FOR GARENA, THE BRAND’S OWNER 17 LOUD rules THE COMPANY THAT DOMINATES THE MOBILE GAMING SCENE IN BRAZIL 21 Opinion LABS COLUMNIST THIAGO ROMARIZ EXPLAINS WHY THE FUTURE OF GAMING IS PORTABLE 24 The world's largest 5G auction NOKIA, ERICSSON AND HUAWEI KNOW THAT THE CONTRACTS THAT WILL COME THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN BID ARE A CRUCIAL STEP FOR THE TECHNOLOGY'S PROVISION IN THE ENTIRE LATIN AMERICA 28 Oi, Vivo, TIM and Claro HOW CARRIERS ARE PREPARING FOR THE ARRIVAL OF 5G IN BRAZIL 30 Culture on the spotlight TIPS ON LATIN AMERICA'S MUSIC, CINEMA, AND LITERATURE LABS COLLECTIONS STREAMING, THE NEW FRONTIER IN GAMING 3 INTERVIEW "All brands should focus on streaming because the effect is fast and really personalized" In an interview with LABS, Brazilian streamer and player Patife talks about the major changes in the gaming ecosystem and its next steps following the current mobile and free games fever BY THIAGO ROMARIZ etween the brands and the In this interview, he talks about the audience are the influencers. changes happening in the market, the B In the gaming and e-sports difference between Latin America and world, they are more than producers other countries, and what are the next or content distributors. They can steps for creators and brands interest- be the voice of a brand, the channel ed in investing in this business in the to get up close and personal to the following years. audience and sometimes the path to know what’s coming up next in the LABS You have changed a lot and have industry. also experimented many different The power influencers have comes things in your career as a creator. due to the time spent talking to follow- How did your relationship with the ers, experimenting formats, and discov- audience change and what was the ering trends that a huge company will major challenge you had to face? never be able to adapt in its magnitude. PATIFE Since my first video, I’ve noticed That’s why they are such a huge invest- that the relationship with the audience is ment and target for brands interested completely different when you do a live in reaching out to the huge audience of stream. This kind of content makes a lot games and e-sport fans. more sense because I’m in contact with On the other hand, audiences and followers in a more direct way and I have trends are so fast and volatile that feedback immediately. It also gives me sometimes not even the influencers more freedom to decide themes, because can keep up with so many changes. I usually don’t talk only about the game Symbol of the gaming community in itself. This diversity of followers and Brazil, Patife is in the business for themes that streaming allows, gave me almost a decade now and was part of the possibility to expand my own audi- the major changes that took place in ence – since there are a lot of people that the gaming ecosystem during the past don't like streaming, so for them it is hard years. He began his career as a stream- to watch games in real time. I believe that er, started to post VOD and now found my greatest challenge is to really please himself between formats and discover- these two kinds of audiences: the one ing the world of mobile games – while that lives for the stream and the other being the face of many international one that wants a VOD made specially for brands in Brazil. them. And they are equally big. 4 LABS COLLECTIONS STREAMING, THE NEW FRONTIER IN GAMING LABS A lot of platforms tried to LABS Monetization came as a bless- stick to the streaming business, but ing but started to become a curse as almost no one was successful – even the years went by. Challenges grew giants such as Facebook are strug- a lot and the ways to make money gling. What do you think happened through platforms changed a lot as to the market and what is key for a well. What do you think about the platform to thrive in the business? monetizing formats and the regula- PATIFE The user experience is key, tion being used nowadays, and how since that is what will keep peo- will it be possible to make money ple online and spending time on a from streaming in the future? platform. The platforms also must PATIFE Most Brazilians still think that ev- understand where the limit is when erything that is online is for free. So the it comes to content creation. There monetization that comes directly from are those who don't allow swearing the creator/streamer is relatively or any kind of bad language -- some- new for us. Fortunately, it times this could limit the creation or is growing fast, really fast, even the relationship with the audi- thanks to our audience ence. On one hand, it’s a good thing, who are really engaged in because it makes our segment a lot everything that we do and more professional; but someone could everything that we pro- say that this kind of freedom is key mote. A couple of weeks for a streamer to be on a platform. For ago, I did merchandising the audience, the most important is for a monitor and all that the platform is comfortable and of a sudden, someone fast to use. Improving chat and clips made up a story about tools is probably something that will the product and the ad make the difference in the mid term. became the theme of a stream without any kind of planning. It was a really “The relationship with the audience is completely different when you do a live stream. This kind of content makes a lot more sense because I’m in contact with followers in a more direct way and I have feedback immediately” PATIFE, BRAZILIAN STREAMER AND PLAYER LABS COLLECTIONS STREAMING, THE NEW FRONTIER IN GAMING 5 good example of how live streaming can makes the content and the game is not be a great tool for creative advertising as important. The Brazilian audience and brand engagement. In my opinion, is more engaged for sure. At the same all brands should focus on streaming time, our relationship with money and because the results are fast and really monetizing inside of a stream is still in personalized. the beginning. Another big difference is the size of the niches. In the US, for LABS What are the main differences example, the audience devoted to RPG between the US and the Brazilian or fighting games is huge and loyal to markets when it comes to streaming that kind of content. You can be a really and gaming content? successful streamer inside those niches; PATIFE The difference is huge. Our audi- something that is almost impossible in ence is passionate and really dedicated Brazil, where you need to adapt to new to the creator. They really love who trends every other month. LABS What about content creation? “The next big thing is mobile. What do you think will be the next hit? Mobile? MOBA? RPG? Another The audience, the games, and the Battle Royale? platforms are noticing this and I PATIFE The next big thing is mobile.